Common guidelines for the handling of biomaterial

The task force "Biobanking“ is of crucial importance for the entire competence network but most particularly for the cohort study planned by the research network CONTROL^MS. The aim of this task force is the establishment of a biosample databank which will contribute considerably to the success of the cohort study of CONTROL^MS and the cellular biobanking of UNDERSTAND^MS. The databank supports the scientists from both projects in the research of new biomarkers to better understand the immunological background of MS. Furthermore, the databank will be designed so that members of other individual projects will have unlimited access. In addition to the cohort study and the cellular biobanking, there are several other research projects for which biomaterials from patients are necessary.

The team is developing guidelines for collecting, storing and analyzing biosamples. These standards will be evaluated from an ethics committee before their application in the scientific practice. The workgroup will also define criteria for quality management and the regulation of data protection.

Defining the lowest common denominator

The collected biosamples are mainly blood samples. However, cellular material, brain tissue, spinal fluid and other tissues will also be collected. The task force will define a minimum set of variables to be applied for all biosamples.

The coordinator of the task force is Prof. Dr. Bernhard Hemmer (TU Munich).